Help 'Harpy'

For a long time, you have been told "harpies are a race of monstrous creatures twisted by magic," but who told you that? The elves, perhaps, fatuous and self-righteous as they are in their beauty; or perhaps the race of men, who make a sport of smashing eggs, defiling nests. The question has turned rhetorical, so I will omit the mark. I hope you do not miss it. Whoever spread this claim, by all accounts, did not get it right. Well-trodden as a rumor or a road, the broad strokes are there, sure, but the details ...? For instance, you might not know which of the dark gods created the harpies, but I do. At least, I know who made this one. An old story, as they all are, and sad (as they all are!): a winged queen, a covetous suitor, a trickster god. What would you do to protect your people? Your daughter? We speak of choices as if the last one left were two doors instead of one, as if we did not know it to be a curse when we finally crossed through it. But that was a long time ago and on the other side of the door. You have been told that harpies are roughly humanoid in appearance with the face of a maiden, wings of an avian, talons of a dragon, and that is all true. Few lorists, though, will make mention of the harpy's eyes, most often black (or what one describes as black when what she really means to convey is a void from which no light can escape), hypnotic, likely a remnant of the chaotic magic imbued at the time of their creation. Harpies are not known for their intelligence, but rather their brutality, their twisted minds, their alluring songs--as the adage goes, and this is true enough to be false. You might not know them for their smarts, but they are sharp as knives if as cruel. Do not blame the harpy for what you have heard of her. Finally, you have ben told "doomed is the one who listens too long to the song of a harpy," and this is indeed true, but not for the reason you might think. For we are all doomed here. We are all doomed.